It’s time for evidence-based social assistance

OpinionApr 12, 2016by
Craig Foye and Tom Cooper
Hamilton Spectator

It's time to fix social assistance.

Ontario's staggeringly low social assistance rates leave more than 900,000 people in this province underhoused, hungry and sick. That's because provincial social assistance benefits are arbitrary numbers that come nowhere close to reflecting the real costs of rent, food and other basic necessities in our communities.

At the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic and Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, we regularly hear from individuals and families who spiral deeper and deeper into poverty the longer they try to subsist on provincial social assistance programs.

We see children changing schools year after year — and sometimes during the school year; their parents are continually evicted because they cannot afford the increasing costs of their rent. Shelter allowances for those on social assistance fall hundreds of dollars below average rents in this community. The maximum shelter allowance allowed for one parent with a child on social assistance is $602 per month while the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Hamilton was calculated at $1,034 per month in 2015. With families falling $425 short every month, the numbers don't add up.

We see unprecedented levels of hunger in our communities. The vast majority of those accessing food banks in Hamilton are actually in receipt of provincial social assistance. While charities and well-meaning citizens respond to the crisis through donations to food banks, the government has refused to solve root problem of hunger by fixing social assistance rates.

We see individuals getting sicker and sicker while they struggle to live on below-subsistence provincial social assistance incomes. At its most profound, the Hamilton Spectator's Code Red series reported a 21-year difference in life expectancy between one of Hamilton's richest neighbourhoods and one of its poorest, representing "an entire generation lost between those neighbourhoods at the top and bottom." People who are poorer are three times more likely to be sick, and that's having a huge cost not only to their individual wellness but also costing a whole lot to our health care system.

We also see an increasing polarization of incomes in our communities due in large part to the depth of poverty suffered by those on provincial social assistance programs.

In 1996, the provincial government of the day cut social assistance rates by 21 per cent overnight. Unfortunately, twenty years later those rates have still not recovered. In fact, when cost of living increases are factored, social assistance rates are lower today than they were in 2003, when the Liberals were elected to office.

By paying below subsistence-level incomes to individuals and families on provincial social assistance programs, we are mortgaging the future of our children and our communities. The effects on public health, education, and the economy are already dire; and things will only get worse unless we ensure that people who need social assistance can actually afford to meet their basic necessities.

Things do not have to be this way.

This week, Hamilton East-Stoney Creek MPP Paul Miller introduced a private member's bill to establish the Social Assistance Research Commission. This isn't a new idea. It's very similar to a bill that was presented in the Ontario Legislature in 2007 by another local MPP, Ted McMeekin.

Back then, McMeekin's bill to link social assistance rates to local costs for food and housing was a bold idea. Unfortunately, that bill died on the order paper, and since then, despite nearly a decade of pleas from social assistance recipients and advocates, rates have barely moved.

Under Paul Miller's new bill, the Social Assistance Research Commission would be tasked with recommending evidence-based social assistance rates to the provincial government on an annual basis. Those recommendations would be based on an analysis of the actual costs of rent, food and other basic necessities across the province, and the Research Commission would be required to set different social assistance rates for different regions based on an analysis of costs in those regions.

For too long, provincial social assistance rates have been at the mercy of political whim. That must change!

While new proposals to test a Guaranteed Annual Income for low income Ontarians are a welcome step, Ontario should first commit to lifting those who rely on provincial income support programs out of deep poverty.

It's time for all members of the Ontario Legislature to put partisanship aside and support the creation of a Social Assistance Research Commission. Everybody deserves dignity, opportunity and a future.

Craig Foye is a staff lawyer at Hamilton Community Legal Clinic and helped draft legislation in 2007 to create a social assistance rates board.

Tom Cooper is director of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction @TomCoopster

It’s time for evidence-based social assistance

OpinionApr 12, 2016by
Craig Foye and Tom Cooper
Hamilton Spectator

It's time to fix social assistance.

Ontario's staggeringly low social assistance rates leave more than 900,000 people in this province underhoused, hungry and sick. That's because provincial social assistance benefits are arbitrary numbers that come nowhere close to reflecting the real costs of rent, food and other basic necessities in our communities.

At the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic and Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, we regularly hear from individuals and families who spiral deeper and deeper into poverty the longer they try to subsist on provincial social assistance programs.

We see children changing schools year after year — and sometimes during the school year; their parents are continually evicted because they cannot afford the increasing costs of their rent. Shelter allowances for those on social assistance fall hundreds of dollars below average rents in this community. The maximum shelter allowance allowed for one parent with a child on social assistance is $602 per month while the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Hamilton was calculated at $1,034 per month in 2015. With families falling $425 short every month, the numbers don't add up.

We see unprecedented levels of hunger in our communities. The vast majority of those accessing food banks in Hamilton are actually in receipt of provincial social assistance. While charities and well-meaning citizens respond to the crisis through donations to food banks, the government has refused to solve root problem of hunger by fixing social assistance rates.

We see individuals getting sicker and sicker while they struggle to live on below-subsistence provincial social assistance incomes. At its most profound, the Hamilton Spectator's Code Red series reported a 21-year difference in life expectancy between one of Hamilton's richest neighbourhoods and one of its poorest, representing "an entire generation lost between those neighbourhoods at the top and bottom." People who are poorer are three times more likely to be sick, and that's having a huge cost not only to their individual wellness but also costing a whole lot to our health care system.

We also see an increasing polarization of incomes in our communities due in large part to the depth of poverty suffered by those on provincial social assistance programs.

In 1996, the provincial government of the day cut social assistance rates by 21 per cent overnight. Unfortunately, twenty years later those rates have still not recovered. In fact, when cost of living increases are factored, social assistance rates are lower today than they were in 2003, when the Liberals were elected to office.

By paying below subsistence-level incomes to individuals and families on provincial social assistance programs, we are mortgaging the future of our children and our communities. The effects on public health, education, and the economy are already dire; and things will only get worse unless we ensure that people who need social assistance can actually afford to meet their basic necessities.

Things do not have to be this way.

This week, Hamilton East-Stoney Creek MPP Paul Miller introduced a private member's bill to establish the Social Assistance Research Commission. This isn't a new idea. It's very similar to a bill that was presented in the Ontario Legislature in 2007 by another local MPP, Ted McMeekin.

Back then, McMeekin's bill to link social assistance rates to local costs for food and housing was a bold idea. Unfortunately, that bill died on the order paper, and since then, despite nearly a decade of pleas from social assistance recipients and advocates, rates have barely moved.

Under Paul Miller's new bill, the Social Assistance Research Commission would be tasked with recommending evidence-based social assistance rates to the provincial government on an annual basis. Those recommendations would be based on an analysis of the actual costs of rent, food and other basic necessities across the province, and the Research Commission would be required to set different social assistance rates for different regions based on an analysis of costs in those regions.

For too long, provincial social assistance rates have been at the mercy of political whim. That must change!

While new proposals to test a Guaranteed Annual Income for low income Ontarians are a welcome step, Ontario should first commit to lifting those who rely on provincial income support programs out of deep poverty.

It's time for all members of the Ontario Legislature to put partisanship aside and support the creation of a Social Assistance Research Commission. Everybody deserves dignity, opportunity and a future.

Craig Foye is a staff lawyer at Hamilton Community Legal Clinic and helped draft legislation in 2007 to create a social assistance rates board.

Tom Cooper is director of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction @TomCoopster

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It’s time for evidence-based social assistance

OpinionApr 12, 2016by
Craig Foye and Tom Cooper
Hamilton Spectator

It's time to fix social assistance.

Ontario's staggeringly low social assistance rates leave more than 900,000 people in this province underhoused, hungry and sick. That's because provincial social assistance benefits are arbitrary numbers that come nowhere close to reflecting the real costs of rent, food and other basic necessities in our communities.

At the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic and Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, we regularly hear from individuals and families who spiral deeper and deeper into poverty the longer they try to subsist on provincial social assistance programs.

We see children changing schools year after year — and sometimes during the school year; their parents are continually evicted because they cannot afford the increasing costs of their rent. Shelter allowances for those on social assistance fall hundreds of dollars below average rents in this community. The maximum shelter allowance allowed for one parent with a child on social assistance is $602 per month while the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Hamilton was calculated at $1,034 per month in 2015. With families falling $425 short every month, the numbers don't add up.

We see unprecedented levels of hunger in our communities. The vast majority of those accessing food banks in Hamilton are actually in receipt of provincial social assistance. While charities and well-meaning citizens respond to the crisis through donations to food banks, the government has refused to solve root problem of hunger by fixing social assistance rates.

We see individuals getting sicker and sicker while they struggle to live on below-subsistence provincial social assistance incomes. At its most profound, the Hamilton Spectator's Code Red series reported a 21-year difference in life expectancy between one of Hamilton's richest neighbourhoods and one of its poorest, representing "an entire generation lost between those neighbourhoods at the top and bottom." People who are poorer are three times more likely to be sick, and that's having a huge cost not only to their individual wellness but also costing a whole lot to our health care system.

We also see an increasing polarization of incomes in our communities due in large part to the depth of poverty suffered by those on provincial social assistance programs.

In 1996, the provincial government of the day cut social assistance rates by 21 per cent overnight. Unfortunately, twenty years later those rates have still not recovered. In fact, when cost of living increases are factored, social assistance rates are lower today than they were in 2003, when the Liberals were elected to office.

By paying below subsistence-level incomes to individuals and families on provincial social assistance programs, we are mortgaging the future of our children and our communities. The effects on public health, education, and the economy are already dire; and things will only get worse unless we ensure that people who need social assistance can actually afford to meet their basic necessities.

Things do not have to be this way.

This week, Hamilton East-Stoney Creek MPP Paul Miller introduced a private member's bill to establish the Social Assistance Research Commission. This isn't a new idea. It's very similar to a bill that was presented in the Ontario Legislature in 2007 by another local MPP, Ted McMeekin.

Back then, McMeekin's bill to link social assistance rates to local costs for food and housing was a bold idea. Unfortunately, that bill died on the order paper, and since then, despite nearly a decade of pleas from social assistance recipients and advocates, rates have barely moved.

Under Paul Miller's new bill, the Social Assistance Research Commission would be tasked with recommending evidence-based social assistance rates to the provincial government on an annual basis. Those recommendations would be based on an analysis of the actual costs of rent, food and other basic necessities across the province, and the Research Commission would be required to set different social assistance rates for different regions based on an analysis of costs in those regions.

For too long, provincial social assistance rates have been at the mercy of political whim. That must change!

While new proposals to test a Guaranteed Annual Income for low income Ontarians are a welcome step, Ontario should first commit to lifting those who rely on provincial income support programs out of deep poverty.

It's time for all members of the Ontario Legislature to put partisanship aside and support the creation of a Social Assistance Research Commission. Everybody deserves dignity, opportunity and a future.

Craig Foye is a staff lawyer at Hamilton Community Legal Clinic and helped draft legislation in 2007 to create a social assistance rates board.

Tom Cooper is director of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction @TomCoopster